#ClassInSession: The Paradox of Purpose

Let the class begin, for #ClassNSession 👨🏾‍🏫 today, I’d like discuss a message I have replayed multiple times, like 4+ TIMES. I know, that is a lot, but I’m taking advantage of the opportunity we have. With the invention of YouTube, we can listen to a message “till we get it.” So many messages & specific words of encouragement I’ve missed because I couldn’t replay. Now that I can, I take full advantage.

Message: “The Paradox of Purpose, Purpose vs Calling”
Teacher: Pastor Charles Metcalf- Transformation Church (OK)
Class: Sunday, June 6,2021
Scripture: 2nd Corinthians 5:21, NIV

• 🤔Where Am I in this?

  • Honestly stuck in the middle, that’s where I am in this. Why stuck? I think I’ve always struggled with the nuanced difference between purpose & calling. I’ve always believed they were tied together but articulating the difference was a challenge. When I was a kid my mom would say “Tell me what that means?” I LOATHED this question but I now know why she asked. Typically, the ability to explain a concept in your own words means you understand it. She was asking me to make sure I understood the discussion.

  • Sometimes, we intermix the two, purpose & calling, this is what causes confusion because while they are connected they are NOT the same.
    

• 🗣What points spoke the loudest?

  • It’s easy to make purpose about DOING but it’s not, purpose is about BEING, being your best self, who HE wants you to be

    • Purpose = BEING

    • Calling = DOING

    • In more detail purpose is God’s original design & plan; your calling is God’s specific designation & assignment

  • Your calling(s) can reveal pieces of your purpose

    • Sometimes we make purpose a destination, I’ve done this:
      ie When I’m here I will be in purpose, when I accomplish this I will be working my purpose. Problem is, if we have to move on from that destination or there is some-type of change with the destination we begin to question our purpose.

    • Pastor Charles mentioned his experience with calling and that said calling changing. See he felt called to start a church and after success, though short, he closed his church to start his time at Transformation. I had a very similar experience, but I handled it with no where near the grace he did. When we closed our church, my thought path was to question if I ever was in purpose to begin with. His willingness to share, what had to have been a very challenging time for he & his wife, helped me to see that I was working toward my purpose all along, even after the change in that call broke my heart.

• 💡What sparked your light bulb moment?

  • “The Paradox of Purpose: sacrificing potential to walk in purpose”

    • The idea that we are filled with potential and that potential presents plenty of opportunity but it’s our willingness to forgo those opportunities to BE IN purpose that matters. It’s sobering.

    • I’ve never once thought of potential from this perspective. As he stated, potential is so future & action focused it almost feels like it’s right but when I consider my most cherished memories they are more about just with/being than doing.

    • Pastor Charles stated that Jesus died FULL of potential but He perfectly fulfilled his purpose.
      

• ⁉️If I could ask Pastor Charles one question about this message, what would it be?

  • Pastor Charles I’d ask, what was your process for making peace with closing down Eden and joining Transformation? What steps did you take to gain that peace?

Well that’s it for me. I HOPE🤞🏾 you’ve found my notes 📝 helpful and if nothing else, you’ve decided to give this message a try for yourself.

Here’s a link: The Paradox of Purpose by Charles Metcalf 👩🏾‍🎓

#ClassInSession

#thoughtlifeco